Ain't I a Woman? (Speech)

Ain't I a Woman? (Speech) Irony

Pint/quarter intellect

Sojourner Truth invokes the common opinion that men are more intelligent than women, noting that men have a "quart" full of intellect, whereas woman only have a "little pint." On one hand, this is a powerful rhetorical device: it uses an otherwise opposing view to further emphasize her point. At the same time, it could be read as an example of irony in its emphasis of men's significantly greater intellect amid a speech delivered with the goal of achieving equality.

Sympathy for men

With dry wit, Truth occasionally expresses sympathy for men. While onlookers or public opinion may have cast her, a black woman and former slave, as the appropriate target of pity, she inverts this power dynamic and instructs her audience to imagine the plight of men. This tongue in cheek approach makes her argument even more powerful.